National Defense Act

Department of Defense

The National Security Act of 1947 created a coordinated command for security and intelligence-gathering activities. The act established the National Security Council (NSC) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the latter under the authority of the NSC and responsible for foreign intelligence. The National Security Agency, an agency of the Department of Defense, is responsible for...

Preparedness Movement

...Not until German submarine attacks and especially the sinking of the “Lusitania” (May 7, 1915) did the administration begin to favour an increase in armaments. With passage of the National Defense Act (June 3, 1916) and a subsequent naval appropriations measure authorizing an enormous increase in U.S. armed forces, the Preparedness Movement became largely superfluous. It...